Page 54 of Run, Run Rudolph
“What if it’s your mom?” Tamara asked, the edge of her mouth fighting a grin.
“She has her own text sound.”
“Why are we standing out in the cold?” Kade asked, making a point of rubbing his hands together and hunching down into his coat. He stamped his feet in the snow, then turned to Tamara. “You got some hot chocolate? The kind with mini marshmallows?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
We needed Kade out of here. We couldn’t very well start attending to an invisible jolly Saint Nick with him peering over our shoulder.
“Bummer. I sure could go for some. How about you? You look cold,” he asked Tamara. He shoved his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, clearly opting for no gloves in hopes of looking cool despite the biting, dangerous temperatures.
“I’ve got to get to work here,” I told Kade. “Tell Mom I’m fine, and that I’ll call her when I’m done.”
As one, Tamara and I wordlessly started propelling Santa toward the barn again. There was a gash on Santa’s forehead, and I hoped to give him a better once-over than I’d been able to perform in the sleigh, to ensure it was superficial. Hopefully, things weren’t worse than Santa’s obvious concussion, and possibly his cholesterol. The man had some serious weight behind him. Weight that had worked against him when the sleigh had made contact with the tree. To say Santa had rung his bell during the crash was an understatement.
Kade didn’t take the hint and began following us to the door.
“What’s wrong with Dolly? Boy, Carl’s going to be ticked if anything happens to her on your watch, right?”
“Her landlord trusts her with his horse,” I said, my tone more biting than I intended.
“I was making conversation. Loosen up, man.”
“The horse is fine,” Tamara said kindly.
“You work too much,” Kade told me as we entered the barn. “Take some time off. Hey! I know. Let’s go to Louise and shred it up on New Year’s Eve. Then hit the town, meet some ski bunnies.”
Lake Louise, the ski hill and small mountain town, would be a nice place to bring in the New Year, but I wasn’t interested in hooking up with strangers. I was more of a ‘family and friends’ kind of guy. My inner circle was small, but filled with ride-or-dies. I could count on every person in my friend group.
My brother, on the other hand, baffled me. He knew just about everyone in the county and had about a thousand Facebook friends and acquaintances. But did he have a core group of friends that would be there if he needed them? Somehow, I doubted it.
“Come on, don’t make a face. It’ll be fun. My treat. Well, the hotel and a beer or two. Lift ticket prices have gotten out of control. Although the hotel might set me back more than a lift ticket.” He followed us into the barn, negotiating with himself over what he’d cover for me if I went with him. He gave a little hop over the wooden threshold, closing the door behind him, and before the reindeer could enter. A huff of frustration came from outside.
“Did you get a new horse? Why are we in here, and not the house?” Kade asked.
“We’re, uh, looking for the cat,” Tamara replied.
We sat Santa on a bale where he muttered to himself. Again, I wondered what Kade saw us doing.
“Your cat, Shrek?” My brother had begun eyeing me, as if he was picking up on a Tamara-and-I-had-secrets vibe, his shoulders squared and chest puffed out almost as though he expected a fight. The two of us had ganged up on him enough before our falling out that he was instantly suspicious whenever Tamara and I seemed to be on the same page. It likely didn’t help that we’d made it a habit to poke at him. Maybe that was the real reason he didn’t want us hanging around each other.
“The cat’s name is Puss in Boots,” I said, tone low, near a growl. I couldn’t help it. The guy couldn’t even be bothered to learn her cat’s name. He clearly didn’t deserve Tamara.
“Yeah. From Shrek. Close enough. So, what’s the emergency?”
“I’ll have him better in a jiff,” I said, using my older brother authority. “You can head home.”
“I’ll wait.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause. I’m bored, Golden Boy,” Kade stated, making himself at home on a bale beside Santa. I bit back a smile, thinking that he’d crap himself if the man next to him suddenly became visible.
“I’m not the golden boy.” Our parents were proud of me, but they fawned over Kade. He could do no wrong. It was to the point where I wondered if they regretted spoiling him so much, seeing as his precociousness was less cute now that he was an adult, and he’d driven away the woman they adored like a daughter. “And don’t you think it’s weird Mom would send out her second son, if she was concerned about her first one being out in this weather?”
“She didn’t send me. She was just asking where you were.” Kade bunched his bare hands into fists. “And I’m not second. Not like that.”
“Sorry? Like how?” I asked innocently.
